Panel discussion on Vietnam's abusive treatment of ethnic Montagnards banned by
NCPO
Pravit Rojanaphruk - The
Nation
June 27, 2015
A PRESS conference
organized by Human Rights Watch to highlight the plight of a Vietnamese minority
group was banned from taking place at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of
Thailand (FCCT) in Bangkok yesterday after the authorities said staging it could
affect good relations between Thailand and Vietnam.
HRW
staff in Bangkok said the move, the first against the New York-based group, was
a new low for the military regime when it came to restricting freedom of
expression.
"It reaffirms the National Council for Peace and Order's intention to shut down
space to report the human rights situation. This time it's not just about
Thailand but Vietnam," HRW Thailand senior researcher Sunai Phasuk told The
Nation, adding that Thailand has now joined the league of authoritarian regimes.
"Thailand is going to be known as a defender of human rights violations in Asean,"
he said.
In a police letter the authorities "requested cooperation" from HRW by
"refraining" from detailing the report - "Persecuting 'Evil Way' Religion: Abuse
against Montagnards in Vietnam" - because doing so would impact negatively on
national security and may effect bilateral relations with Hanoi.
The letter was hand-delivered to the FCCT and HRW representatives at the club
shortly before 10.30am, when the press conference was due to start.
The letter, signed by Lumpini Police Station superintendent Colonel Pornchai
Chalordet and addressed to HRW, was politely worded and ended with the hope that
it results in the "receiving of cooperation as usual" and a thank you to the HRW.
HRW deputy Asia director Phil Robertson was visibly upset and said the move came
as a surprise.
He said he spoke to Foreign Ministry spokesman Sek Wannamethee on the phone and
was told Thailand had a special relationship with Vietnam and there would be a
senior delegation from Vietnam visiting Thailand in three weeks.
Sek was not available for comment at press time.
HRW issued a statement saying it was disappointed with the cancellation.
"By stepping in to defend a neighbouring state's human rights violations against
a group of its people and interrupting a scheduled press conference, Thailand's
military junta is violating freedom of assembly and demonstrating its contempt
for freedom of the press," it said.
The club, in a statement, said: "From the perspective of the FCCT, it was a
routine press event and part of any normally functioning media environment … The
situation of the Montagnards in Vietnam is a subject of legitimate international
public interest."
Three Vietnamese reporters were present when the event was cancelled.
A female Vietnamese journalist, asked what she thought of the move, just said:
"I don't make anything [of it]. Don't interview me."